and thou hast corrupted thy self He made man upright but he hath sought out many cursed inventions and made himself achild of the devil Besides this is none other ground than the devils may have to expect salvation Thus they are related to Christ For by him were all things created that are in heaven and in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalâ—ties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things consist Col. 1.16 17. 2. There is the relation of men to Christ as the Son of man As he humbled himself to take the form of a servant and to assume our nature and not the nature of Angels And indeed such a one it was necessary our Med ator should be As it was requisite he should be God that his obedience and sufferings might be of value sufficient to content and satisfie the demands of the justice of God so likewise that he should be man that he might be capable of subjection unto the Law and undergoing the penalty of the Law Gal. 4.4 Heb. 10.5 As it was necessary he should be God that he might be able to vanquish and subdue our spiritual adversaries so also that he should be man that he might taste death for the children of men which was the way appointed for that conquest to be made Heb. 2.14 As it was needful he should be God that he might be a prevalent high Priest so likewise that he should be man that he might be a merciful high Priest Si enim homo non vicisset inimicum hominis non justè victus esset inimicus Rursus autem nisi Deus donasset salutem non firmiter haberemus eam Et nisi homo conâ—unctus fuisset Deo nostro non potuisset particeps fleri incorruptibilitatis Opertuer at enim Mediatorem Dei hominum per suam ad utrosque domesticitatem ad amicitiam concordiam utrosque reducerâ— facere ut Deus assumeret hominem homo se dederet Deo Iraen adv haeres touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 2.17 And from hence doth arise a relation to him a kind of identity or oneness with him as between beings of the same nature Thus the Apostle saith they are one specifically one in respect of his humane nature Heb. 2.11 16. For he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one That is of the same stock and linage the children are partakers of flesh and blood and he took part of the same For v. 16. Verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels but he took upon him the seed of Abrahaem But still this is a relation which is common to the just and the unjust to them that fear the Lord and to them that despise him Indeed the benefit of it redoundeth only to such as are sanctified For what advantage is it to thee that Christ was the Son of man if thou liest still in the gall of bitterness and art a slave to the devil But the relation it self extends to all the generations of mankind They are the children of men and Christ was found in fashion as a man Phil. 2.7 8. they are of the humane nature and so was Christ being the seed of the woman according to the flesh Gen. 3.15 16. 3. There is a peculiar relation of Saints and sincere Christians to Christ as the Mediator and Redeemer God and man in one person as members are related to the Head or the Spouse to the Husband A saving relation to him whereby they have a right and title to what Christ hath done and suffered and an interest in the mercies procured thereby such a relation is this Union we are speaking of The Apostle doth evidently puâ— a difference betwixt this and the former Col. 1.16 17.18 By him were all things created c. and in him all things consist And he is the head of the body the Church q. d. It is true Christ is the Lord and Soveraign of the whole Creation men and Angels and devils but his own people have a peculiar neerness unto him he is the head of the body the Church And the beloved Disciple mentioneth it as a differencing priviledg 1 Joh. 5.19.20 We know that we are of God dear children and the whole world lieth in wickedness And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understâ—nding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ Mark it we are in him others are not we who are born of God have a share in this signal mercy whereof the rest of the world are not sharers This leadeth us to the third branch of the description which is 3. The subjects of this Union to whom it doth appertain why to believers It is the special relation which believers have to the Lord Jesus that is sound believers which are made partakers of the faith of God's elect such as are Israelites indeed and Christ's Disciples and followers in good earnest Col. 1.2 To the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ You know there are Disciples of Christ in appearance and others who are such in truth who have not only the shew but the substance of Religion that do not only call themselves servants of Christ but are stedfast and faithful with him Rev. 17.14 And these are the persons who are in him It is for them only he prayeth that they might be one with him and therefore unto them peculiarly doth this priviledge belong Joh. 17.20 21. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe in me through their word That they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Mark it it is affixed to Believers that they may be one in us How are Believers the subjects of this union I answer on a fourfold account 1. Solely and exclusively 2. Universally and comprehensively 3. Entirely and undividedly 4. Formally under that respect as Believers 1. Believers are the subjects of this Union solely and exclusively It is a part of the hidden Manna which none taste of but Gods hidden ones as believers are called Psal 83.3 Carnal Professors have no lot nor portion in this matter they may enjoy great advantages by having their station in the Church but only real Saints and luch as are regenerate are ingraffed into Christ the head of the Church God doth give forth some spiritual mercies promiscuously indifferently to the good and bad to the righteous and wicked but there are other priviledges peculiar unto the righteous and this of implantation into Christ is one of them whereby he doth manifest himself unto his own and not unto the world How can this be saith Judas not Iscariot How is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us and not
Lord Jesus is for the intimacy and closeness of it one of the deep things of God p. 20 This needful to be premised on a fourfold account p. 21 Concl. 2. Although the Vnion of a Believer with the Lord Jesus is in it self a Mystery not easie to be attained as to right apprehensions of it yet it is a point of great concernment to be studied p. 24 And that for three Reasons p. 25 Concl. 3. Instead of curiously prying into this Mystery and the manner of this Vnion further than is revealed in the Scriptures our principal design should be to secure it to our selves that we are sharers therein p. 28 This Conclusion backt with three Arguments p. 29 CHAP. III. Vnion with Christ distinguished into that which is By way of 1. External Adherence only 2. Spiritual Implantation p. 31 The first member of this Distinction opened in four Positions p. 32 Pos 1. The principal Bonds or Ligaments whereby this Union with Christ by way of outward Adhaesion is wrought are four 1. An approbation and acknowledgment of the doctrines of Christianity p. 34 2. A professed subjection to the Ordinances of Christ p. 35 3. Some common workings on the heart p. 36 4. A measure of reformation in the Life p. 37 Pos 2. It is a great priviledge and mercy considered in it self for a man or woman to be taken thus neer unto Christ and in this sense to be in him by way of external adhaerence p. 38 The advantage of it discovered in four things p. 39 Pos 3. When persons are thus only in Christ by external adhaerence though they may abide with him for a time yet at last there will be made a separation betwixt them and this Union will be dissolved p. 42 Three special wayes how this sort of Union is dissolved p. 43 Pos 4. The state and condition of such as are thus only in Christ by outward adhaesion and do not improve this priviledge that they may be indeed what they profess to be is a wretched and miserable estate p. 46 The misery of their estate set forth in four things p. 47 CHAP. IV. Vnion with Christ by way of spiritual ingrafture described and the branches of the description explained p. 55 1. Branch The general nature of the grace of Union it is a persons relation to Jesus Christ p. 56 Under this head three things to be observed p. 57 2. Br. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is the special relation which Christians have to the Son as Mediator of the Covenant of Reconciliation p. 61 A threefold Relation betwixt Christ and the children of men p. 62 3. Br. The Subâ—ects of this Union to whom it doth appertain viz. Believers And that on a fourfold account p. 66 4. Br. The foundation of this Vnion on which it is bottomed On a Believers intimate conjunction with Christ p. 69 5. Bâ— The blessed effects or consequents that flow from this Union 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ p. 70 This appeareth in four respects p. 71 2. Hereby their spiritual estate is fundamentally changed p. 73 This doctrine of the change of a mans spiritual state of great concernment to be studied For three Reasons p. 74 This point opened under six Heads p. 78 3. The third consequent of Union is An effectual application of all the Benefits of Redemption p. 87 A threefold Application of those benefits 1. External p. 89 2. Internal but conditional p. 90 3. Effectual and saving p. 92 CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united in eight gradual Propositions Prop. 1. The children of men by nature are separated from Christ and strangers unto him p. 94 Prop. 2. Over and above their separation from Christ they are actually joyned to such objects as are utterly inconsistent with their Union with the Son of God p. 95 They are 1. In convenant with sin p. 96 2. Contracted to the Law as a covenant of life p. 98 Prop. 3. The first work that is wrought upon the soul of a man in order to his conjunction and oneness with Jesus Christ is the withdrawment of the soul from those objects to which it hath been joyned in opposition to Christ p. 99 Prop. 4. The divorce and separation of a person from sin that he may be united to Christ is principally accomplished by a fourfold work p. 101 1. Conviction p. 102 2. Consideration p. 105 3. Compunction p. 106 4. The grace of Repentance p. 108 Prop. 5. To deaden a sinner to the Law and to take him off from seeking justification thereby that he may be united to Christ God is pleased to make use of a twofold special means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ p. 109 1. The Law it self doth deaden a sinner to the Law by ministring knowledge p. 110 Of 1. The terms of justification by the Law p. 111 2. The spiritualness of the Law p. 112 3. The rigour and severity of the Law p. 114 2. The sufferings of Christ in his body deaden a sinner to the Law by making a threefold discovery p. 117 1. Of the sinfulness and damnableness of sin p. 118 2. Of the inexorableness of Gods justice p. 119 3. That there is no other way to make reconciliation p. 120 Prop. 6. The way of actual conjunction betwixt Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law is to be conceived thus 1. The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them 2. Believers through faith take hold of Christ and get into him And so they are knit together and become one p. 121 From hence ariseth a twofold union 1. Natural 2. Legal CHAP. VI. 1. The Natural Union betwixt Christ and Believers The bond whereof is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them p. 123 This Natural Vnion opened in five particulars p. 124 Four Reasons why the Spirit of Regeneration is called Christ in us p. 132 2. A legal conjunction and oneness thereupon whereof justifying faith is the bond Opened in four particulars p. 134 1. The Scripture mentions a fourfold faith 1. Historical p. 136 2. Temporary p. 138 3. Of miracles p. 140 4. Justâ—fying p. 141 2. Justifying faith hath Christ himself for the special Object upon which it is exercised p. 142 3. The ultimate compleating act of justifying faith is a fiducial reliance upon Christ p. 143 4. Wheresoever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ in a saving way there is also as a necessary concomitant thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ p. 146 Pâ—op 7. From the Mystical Union of a Believer with Christ doth flow another sert of Vnion betwixt them whereof love is the Bond and is commonly called A Moral Union p. 148. That this Moral Union may be improved as an evidence of the former our love to Christ must have four properties It must be 1. Sincere p. 153 2.
and salvation is annexed He that thus hath the Son hath life And peace be to all them that are thus in Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 5.14 This is it which we are enquiring into wherein the nature of it consisteth which I shall now enter upon the unfolding of in the second answer to the question propounded By way of description CHAP. IV. Union with Christ described and the parts of the Description opened 2. HAving thus cleared our passage by the aforementioned distinction come we now to lay down a brief description of this great priviledge or grace of Union with the Son or having the Son which I shall endeavour to explicate in the several branches of it Take the description thus Union with Christ is that special relation which believers have to the Lord Jesus as Mediator of the Covenant of Grace arising from their closs and intimate conjunction with him whereupon they are accounted as one with Christ their spiritual state is fundamentally changed and the benefits of redemption are effectually applyed unto their souls In which Description that we may handle it methodically and so the more understandingly you have these five branches into which it may be divided that need each of them a little explanation 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus 2. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is that special relation which they have to Christ as Mediator 3. The subjects of this Union unto whom it doth appertain and they are believers It is the special relation of Believers to the Lord Jesus 4. The foundation of this Union whereupon it is bottomed and whence it doth arise Why it ariseth from their intimate conjunction with Christ 5. The blessed consequents that flow from it or the great effects which are produced by it And they are three 1. Hereupon they are reckoned as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. The general nature of this grace or priviledge of Union with Christ It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus So as I conceive it may be most properly stiled that mutual habitude or reference which is between them or which Christ and his people have one to the other Vnio hat est spiritualis illa relatio hominum ad Christum quâ jus acquirunt ad omnâ—s illas benedictiones qua in ipso praparantur Ames med It is called in the Text an having the Son and it is frequently set forth by a being espoused or married to the Son 2 Cor. 11.2 For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chast virgin to Christ. Rom. 7.4 That ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead Elsewhere it is called A belonging to Christ Mar. 9.41 And a being his Gal. 5.24 You know though there is a very neer conjunction and oneness thereupon between the Husband and Wife that are married together yet it is but a relative oneness their individual properties remain distinct notwithstanding Such is this Union of a sincere Christian with the Lord Jesus they are contracted and married together and so become united For by such umbrages taken from external things God is pleased to set forth this high mystery that it may be better apprehended by us that it may be easier let into our understandings Under this Head I shall intreat you heedfully to mind and observe three things 1. That this Union of the Saints with Christ is not a transformation of either into the essence or substance of the other Nostra ipsius Christi conjunctio nec miscet personas nee confundit substantias Sed affectus consociat confoederat voluntates either of Christ into theirs or of Believers into his essence They are not so made one as as if there were a substantial alteration or commixtion therein as if their persons or natures were so contempered together as to be made up into one A sincere convert is one with the person of the Mediator but they are not thereby made one person as some have vented their blasphemies that they are Christed with Christ and Godded with God and such like expressions that would make the heart of a sober Christian to tremble and his ears to tingle at the mention of them This oneness is not to be understood grosly and carnally as the Capernaites mistook it but in a spiritual sense as Christ himself doth interpret it Joh. 6.56 63. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him How is this to be understood Mark v. 63. Loquituâ— non de externo ac â—ranseunte verborum istorum sonitu sed de sensu illorum Ac significat se non carnaliter de carnall carnis suae esu in quo vita non est sed spiritualiter de spiritus vivificatoris virtute in qua vita est loquutum esse Muscul in loc It is the spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are spirit and life As if he had said these things are to be taken in a spiritual sense and not after a carnal manner Indeed it is so undeniably evident that it is not to be meant of a corporal union that I shall not need to insist upon arguments for the confutation of such uncouth notions Christ and a believer are not so made one but that they retain their natures distinct and their personal properties distinct notwithstanding that union they have different places properties and employments Christ is corporally in heaven the heavens must contain him till the time of the restitutions of all things and many of the members of his mystical body are still militant upon the face of the earth He is the Redeemer and they are the redeemed Act. 3.21 To the Lord Christ doth justly and deservedly appertain all worship and homage All ye Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 But it were monstrous and hateful idolatry to give it unto the Saints who are our fellow-creatures Rev. 22.9 Acts 14 13 14 15. The Lord Jesus is ordained and constituted to be the Judge and Believers are a part of the persons to be judged It is true they shall fit as Assessors with Christ in passing sentence upon the wicked but first they must stand themselves before the Judgment-seat and receive their acquittal Act. 17.31 Rom. 14.10 I might multiply passages of this sort if it were needful So that this Union is not a perfonal or corporal oneness with Christ but it consisteth in the neer relation which they have unto him 2. Hence it followeth plainly by way of consectary that it is a gross mistake of such persons who would gather from a Believers oneness with Christ that they are perfectly freed from all remainders of sin Sirs Christ is holy and pure a Lamb without spot and blemish he never
knâ—w the least iniquity so as to be tainted therewith in the smallest degree but his Disciples and followers whilst they are in their pilgrimage here even the best of them have much corruption * Habitat peccatum in regenitiâ— sed non regnat manet sed non dominatur Evulsum quodaâ—modo nec tamen expâ—lsum dejectum sed not proâ—siâ— ejâ—â—â—um Bern. still abiding in their natures and are under manifold imperfections For their union with him is not a confornding of their beings as if they were made one physical person with Christ but it lieth in their neer relation unto Christ There hath been much poyson of late years vomited by wretches of profligate principles who turn the grace of God into wantonness Let them commit never so many cursed abominations yet they will plead that they sin not because Christ is in them But though Christ be in the godly not in such whose heart walketh after their detestable things and the godly are united to him in a spiritual way yet they do not lose thereby their personal beings and operations This oneness with the Son of God doth necessarily suppose a mans freedom from the reign of sin and the allowed practise of it but it may stand together with the remainders of corruption it is not altogether inconsistent with many failings and infirmities in the conversation 1 Joh. 1.6 8. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness if any sin be our way and course wherein we travel and allow our selves we lie and do not the truth And on the other hand If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 3. Remember this in the third place that although we call this oneness of the godly with Christ their neer relation unto him yet there is a great deal of reality in it Christ and his people are united truly and verily though not corporally You must not look upon this grace of Union as if it were a bare notion and imagination that hath its existence and being only in the fancies of men but there is an oneness indeed between the Lord Christ and his servants Joh. 15.1 I am the true vine q. d. As truly as there is a natural union bed tween the vine and the branches so there is an Union spiritual betwixt me and my Disciples And again Joh. 6.55 My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed This is not a meer speculation or the product of mens brains it is not an Ens râ—tionis only fabricated and invented by the wit of man but there is much truth and reality in the thing Nay it is a very closs and intimate Union What expressions could be used of a fuller significancy than those Eph. 5.30 For we are memberâ— of his body and of his flesh and of his bones But still understand it not grosly and carnally but in a spiritual way and manner Relationes sunt minimae entitatis maximae verò efficaciae So there is a real ground on which it is bottomed and many glorious effects produced by it it is the inlet into all other Covenant-blessings and hath much reality in it self That 's the first branch of the description As to the general nature of this grace It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus 2. Here is a note of difference whereby it is distingued from other relations unto Christ therefore I call it That special relation which Christians have to him as Mediator of the Covenant of grace as he is the Redeemer of Gods elect and as they are persons knit unto him that they may partake of the redemption which he hath purchased Such a relation as is appropriated unto them that are sanctified and whereunto the rest of the world are utterly strangers As there are special qualifications put into the godly and special work and service performed by the godly so there are special priviledges conferred upon them and this Union is one of those distinguishing priviledges whereby they have relation to Christ as he is the Redeemer that cometh to Zion Isa 54.5 Fear not for thy Maker is thine Husband and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole earth he shall be called For the right apprehending of my meaning herein you must observe that there is a threefold relation which the children of men may be said to have to the Lord Christ and upon each of them in a sense to be in him There is the relation of 1. Creatures to Christ as The eternal God 2. Men. to Christ as The Son of man 3. Saints or Christians to Christ as The Mediator of the Covenant of grace 1. There is the relation of creatures to Christ as the eternal God of the same essence and substance with the Father and equal unto the Father by whom they were made and preserved from whom they received their being and continuation in their being For Sirs as Christ was appointed to transact matters with the Father so he is coessential and coequal with him God blessed for ever Rom 9.5 As in respect to his incarnation he was born in the fulness of time so upon the account of his divine nature he is the Father of eternity Isa 9.6 The man that is Gods fellow Zech. 13.7 As he came to be the Saviour of the world so by him the world was made and all things therein and by him they are upheld Joh. 1.1 3. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made Heb. 1.3 He upholdeth all things by the word of his power Now from hence doth arise a relation unto Christ as creatures are related unto the Creator as dependent beings unto that infinite Majesty upon whom they have dependance Causâ— Procreans Esse Causâ— quae dat Porrò Causâ— Conservans Esse And the holy Ghost stileth it a being in him as the effect is in the cause both of creation and conservation Act. 17.28 For in him * Or by him as it may be reâ—dred For I understand nothing further by this in-existence than Dependentiae ereatura à creatore tam in esse quam in operari we live and move and have our being For we are all his off-spring This relation is common to the vilest of people nay to the very devils There are some poor ignorant souls delude themselves from hence they hope God will save them because he made them Will Christ damn his creatures the workmanship of his hands it can never enter into their hearts to believe it But O vain man if thou continuest ignorant or unregenerate and walkest in a course of ungodliness God that made thee will shew no mercy towards thee Christ that formed thee will send thee to hell Isa 27.11 God may refuse to own thee for the creature that he made he made thee holy
pressed the necessity of Union with Christ in order to the partaking of the benefits of Redemption I was a while since intreated by letter from some that I would further instruct them in the nature of that Mystery of Union with the Son of God With the proposal of this spiritual and useful enquiry and the sundry particulars relating thereunto wherein they desired information I was not a little well pleased knowing how usual it is with many Professors of Godliness to leave the kernel and marrow of Christianity wherein the life and sweetness of it lieth and to exercise themselves about the shell and bones only of contention As if they had been brought up at the feet of those Schoolmen who turn Religion into Quodlibets and make it little else but a well-digested heap of intricate * Statum lacessunt omnipotentis Dei Calumniosis litibus Fidem minutis dissecant ambagibus Vt quisque est linguâ nequior Solvunt ligantque quaestionem vincula Per syllogismos plectiles and doubtful disputations To those savoury questions I returned answer as he that ministers seed to the sower was pleased to give ability and as might be contained within the compass of one sheet at the most Which answer I intended but as a compounding for forbearance till I should be ready to give fuller satisfaction For I found within my self a strong propension of spirit upon the first motion of it to me to wait upon God in the deligent search of the Scriptures for a more thorow insight into that great Gospel-doctrine When my Meditations were digested into this method and frame according to the following Treatise I was perswaded to believe That I could not be better serviceable to the souls of many of my dear friends from whom the Lord hath suffered me to be rent then by commending these plain Truths to their most serious study And I think I may be assured That many amongst them who have loved the Author for the Truths sake will be no whit the more averse from a sedulous enquiry into these Truths for the Authors sake For the Subject matter it needs no Apology being one of the highest and yet most necessary Points of Christian instruction unless it be for this That so mean a person as my self hath attempted the handling of it To which I shall say with Minutius Felix Nihil indignandum vel dolendum si quicunque de divinis quaerat sentiat proferat Cum non disputantis Authoritas sed disputationis ipsius veritas requiratur Atque etiam quo imperitior sermo hoc illustrior ratio est Quoniam non fucatur pompa facundiae gratiae sed ut est recti regula sustinetur All the perversion in humane affairs and disorders in the spirits of the children of men do arise according to the observation of Augustine from a twofold Original * Cum fruimur utendis utimur fruendis 1. The enjoying of what should only be used And 2. The using of that which ought to be enjoyed By giving that place to the creatures which is only due to the God of heaven and making use of the Lord and his service in a subordination and subserviency to other ends Our great work therefore consists in referring all things to their proper places and restoring them to their appointed stations according to the eternal Law To use the things of this world as not abusing them and to make God alone the object of our enjoyment This enjoyment of God since the fall of man is only attainable through Jesus Christ the Mediator And there is no fellowship to be maintained with God through Christ but only by such as are in Christ And this is the scope and drift of the Tract ensuing so to manuduct and lead sinners unto the Son That being knit unto him they may thence be conducted into the bosom of the Father And I suppose If a just reckoning be made of such as have designedly dealt upon this Subject of a Believers Union with Christ considering how many have wrote upon some others this Book need not be accounted as supernumerary If any be offended with the meaness of the stile and for want of such embellishments of Rhetorick and History wherewith it might have been adorned or that I have sometimes descended too low in the explication and proof of such matters as seem not to require it Let such please to take notice That my intent was if possible to speak to the capacity of the meanest I have often thought of Mr. Dod 's observation That most Ministers in England are wont to shoot over the peoples heads Rather would I utter the plainest Truths to the understanding and edification of the weakest Christians than study to feed more curious fancies with sublimer notions and niceties * Dissoluti est pectoris sonos auribus infundere dulciores non medicinam vulneribus adhibere Arnob. And as for ringing changes upon words and the counter-marching of sentences as one speaketh they may pass for wit and elegancy with some but contribute nothing to the nourishment of the vitals of Christianity I have purposely declined all controversal points for that I would not scratch the * Disputandi pruritus est Ecclesiarum scabies Wotton Plaus Vot Itch of any in this litigious generation Let us follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another What is found to be agreeable to the mind of God and the tenour of the everlasting Gospel let it be received and embraced in the love of it And pardon the defectiveness of the Author in the management of the whole I dare not say as Cicero who was confident Se nuâ—lum verbum quod revocare vellet emisisse Yet I may truly speak as another Ego omnia quae dixi bona fide sine ullo studio contentionis sine aliqua dubitatione veritatis sine aliquo praejudicio diligentioris Tractatus exposui R. S. A Table of the Contents of the Book CHAP. I. The Context opened Believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ page 3 2. Jesus Christ p. 4 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ p. 5 What it is for a Believer to have the witness within himself In three things p. 6 How unbelief makes God a lyar 1. Negatively 2. Positively p. 8 The Text explained What is meant by eternal life p. 10 Eternal life the gift of God in a fourfold respect p. 12 Eternal life is in the Son on a threefold account p. 14 The manner of the conveyance of Eternal life p. 15 Qu. What is meant by having the Son Answ In three things p. 16 Doct. In order to an interest in Eternal life and participation of the blessings which are given forth by the Son in a tendency thereunto it is of indispensable necessity That we be united to Christ p. 18 CHAP. II. Conclusions introductory to the handling this Mystery of Union Concl. 1. The grace of a Christians Oneness with the
that this is the method and order wherein the Lord is pleased to conduct sinners to happiness First he doth plant them into Christ and then doth bless them in him and through him Christus habet quod omnibus prosit sed si non bibitur non medetur Eph. 1.3 So that this is a point of a very momentous nature which I would press on my own heart and yours that we may perish everlastingly notwithstanding what christ hath done and suffered except we be ingraffed into Christ As life is in him so our selves must be in him that we may partake of that life This is the priviledge which Paul did thirst after and for which he willingly suffered the loss of all things accounting them but dung that he might win Christ and be united unto him or found in him as it is Phil. 3.8 9. In the prosecution and management of this practical note and for the opening of this Mystery and priviledge of union with the Lord Jesus I will cast the matter I have to speak under seven general heads 1. By way of Introduction premising some things that may be of use to lead us into the study of this Mystery 2. For Explication of the nature of this Union wherein it doth consist 3. For unfolding of the way and manner how how it is wrought and accomplished 4. By way of Enquiry into the signal and most remarkable properties of this union 5. For Demonstration of the indispensable necessity of it in order to the attainment of eternal Life 6. I shall briefly touch upon the special similitudes or resemblances which the holy Ghost maketh use of for illustration of this Union 7. Lastly we will close up all in a particular Application for the practical improvement of this Doctrine CHAP. II. Introductory Conclusions premised to direct us in the studying of this Doctrine 1. TO premise a little by way of Introduction There are three preliminary conclusions useful to be pondered and settled in our thoughts by way of entrance to the study of this great truth and getting an insight into this subject of a believers Union or Oneness with the Lord Jesus Concl. 1. That this grace of a Christians union with the Son is for the intimacy and closness of it one of the deep things of God one of the great mysteries held forth in the Gospel The Doctrines of the Bible are well compared by one to the holy waters in Ezek. cap. 47 3 4 5. In some places they were no higher than the ankles of a man but in other places up to the loyns nay a great River that could not be passed over In some places so shallow that a Lamb might wade but in others deep that an Elephant might swim So in the truths of God you have many things easie and obvious that he that runs may read them the meanest Christian may apprehend them But then other passages are so deep that they may exercise the strongest capacities You meet with this distinction of divine truths Heb. 5.12 There is milk for Babes and strong meat for such as are more experienced and have made some considerable progress in the School of Christ There are plain truths to feed the weakest constitution and higher mysteries to exercise the greatest parts and indowments And this point of Union with Christ is one of those mysteries Mark I say for the intimacy of it and a through insight thereinto As to the matter or quod sit it is one of the first principles but in respect of a full comprehension thereof it is an unsearchable depth It is called a mystery a great mystery Eph. 5.32 It is one of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him such as never entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 where the Apostle primarily speaketh of these spiritual blessings though that passage is usually applyed to the kingdom of glory This Union is set forth for mysteriousness of it by that Oneness which is between the Father and the Son Joh. 17.21 sufficiently importing that it is an unfathomable depth This is needful to be premised on a fourfold account 1. That we may begin the study of this point and you may be careful to manage your attendance upon this doctrine with an holy and humble adoration and admiration of the wisdom of God in this glorious contrivance That God should not only redeem lost sinners by the death of his Son but make them one with his Son How should it fill us with astonishment in the contemplation hereof That is a posture of spirit very suitable to an enquiry into the nature of this transcendent priviledge Well may a person cry out as S. Paul on a like occasion O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God Rom. 11.33 2. That we may the rather be induced in our meditations on this Doctrine as to search diligently into the Scriptures so to confine our thoughts and speculations thereupon to the plain revelations and discoveries made in the Scriptures Not to launch forth by our inquisitiveness beyond what is contained therein and made known to us thereby For Fides in regulâ posita est Cedat curiositas fidei cedat gloria saluti Nihil ultra regulam scire omnia scire est Tert. should we set reason on work and give up our selves to the guidance thereof and labour to make this Doctrine compare with Philosophical notions or the like we should soon be lost or be wildred in the contemplation of this thing Or perhaps which is worse split our selves on the rock of some uncouth opinion bordering upon blasphemy instead of embracing the truth as some persons have done when they sought to be wise herein above what is written As far as we have the light of the Word to go before us we may proceed with safety in our enquities of this nature Quae abstrusiora sunt in arcanis divinorum judiciorum perrecondita illa neque investigare tutum est neque reperire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thes Sam. de Langle de â—aedobapt and we should be very careful to venture no further For it is a great mystery a matter of pure revelation the full manifestation whereof is reserved for heaven and it requireth a special illumination of the Spirit to give us any competent insight into it So much is evident from the words of our Saviour to his Disciples Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you At that day that is when the Spirit is poured out from on high Qui enim ausu temerario mortalitatis parum memores per excelsae naturae Philosophiae fastigia tanquam arbore conscensà ad mysteria divina aspirant his poena proposita est perpetuae inconstantiae judicii vacillanâ—is perplexi Cum enim aliud sit lumen naturae aliud Divinum ita cum illis fit ac si duos
unto the world Joh. 14.22 and mark our Saviours answer v. 23. Jesus answered and said unto him if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him q.d. We will be united and knit to such a one and thereupon maintain a constant communion and intercourse with him which is a way of the manifestation of our selves which the world knoweth not of The world is shut out of Christ's prayer for this mercy and it is confined to believers Joh. 17. v. 9. compared with v. 21. 2. It belongeth to believers Universally and comprehensively that is to all of that sort and number whether they are weak Christians or strong whether they are more eminent in the Church or of a lower esteem My brethren this grace of Oneness with Christ is not a dignity conferred upon some eminent Saints whereby they are advanced above their fellows but this honour have all the Saints If there be true justifying faith but as a grain of mustard-seed as our Saviour speaketh in another case it putteth a man into the possession of this priviledge It may be the comfort of the meanest and poorest of the people of God upon earth that however men despise them yet they are married to the King of Kings to the only begotten Son of God You read of babes in Christ who are the lowest rank of Believers 1 Cor. 3.1 It may be improved as a point of wonderful consolation by poor drooping souls that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity When your corruptions struggle within you and you are violently assaulted by temptations from without and thereupon are afraid how you shall be able to hold out and to keep on in the way of godliness when your spirits are ready to sink under your burdens indeavour to raise them up again with this meditation The Lord Christ is my Husband why should I fear He is ingaged to preserve me for I belong to him nay I am in him See and study Isa 40.27 28 29 30. 3. This Union appertaineth to Believers entirely and undividedly My meaning is this the whole persons are the subjects of this Union and every part of them not only their souls the spiritual and immortal part but their very bodies which are made of the dust of the earth For as the grace of Vnction or sanctification where it is poured out upon a person it maketh an entire change both in body and soul so doth the grace of Vnion reach to the whole man to the body as well as to the soul 1 Cor. 6.15 What know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ q. d. This is a known truth a foundation principle you must not be ignorant of it you should be well instructed in this Point that you may be careful not to defile your bodies that it may quicken you to glorifie Christ with your bodies as well as with your spirits 1 Cor. 6.20 At the resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall be fashioned and made like to Christ's glorious body and here upon earth they are knit to his person 4. Believers are the subjects of this Union formally that is under that very consideration as such quatenus Believers For the grace of saith is the principle which God doth peculiarly honour in this very business to make up our union with Christ or to knit a person and the Lord Jesus together Whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 And therefore our Apostle applyeth the doctrine of my Text unto them that believe in the words immediately following v. 12. He that hath the Son hath life c. And v. 13. These things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that ye have eternal life How should Believers know it hereby Why because Believers have the Son by believing they are in the Son eo nomine because they believe That 's the third Branch of the description the proper subjects of this Union viz. Believers 4. Here is the foundation of this Union on which it is bottomed and from whence it doth arise namely from their intimate conjunction with Christ It is that special relation which Believers have to the Lord Jesus arising from their intimate conjunction with him Or from the closness of their being joyned together This is well to be observed as a material point for first there must be unition as one noteth before there can be Vnion First they must be brought together and must be linked and fastened one to the other before they can become one together At least in order of nature conjunction must precede for Union doth result or flow from it and hath a necessary dependance thereupon As it is in marriage the great resemblance for illustration of this mystery First the man and woman are brought together and married one to the other and thence their union doth arise they become one flesh So it is in this spiritual grace first Christ and a Believer are joyned together and then they become one This conjunction is so closs and in imate that it is called a being glewed unto Christ so the word signifieth 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui Domino agâ—utinatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gluten or glewed to the Lord is one spirit First they are joyned and so become one spiritually How this conjunction is wrought I shall open at large in answer to the next question This is the fourth branch of the Description 5. Lastly You have the blessed consequents which flow from hence or the glorious effects produced hereby and they are especially three 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ 2. Their spiritual state is fundamentally changed 3. The benefits of redemption are effectually applyed 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ Being made so they are reckoned and esteemed as such and accordingly made partakers of whatsoever advantage doth accrew thereby and doth grow upon this root of Oneness with the Mediator It is not an empty name and an airy appellation which is hereby attained but believers are answerably esteemed and dealt with in all sorts of dispensations Therefore they are said to be found in him Philip. 3.9 That I may win Christ and be found in him that is in all the dealings of God towards them they are looked upon as one with his Son so their concernments are regarded and blessings are dispensed unto them evils are averted and kept from falling upon them and spiritual good things are given forth When God doth go forth in his providence twoards the children of men he findeth the wicked in their sins polluted in their blood under the curse of the Law and so there is a curse interwoven with his proceedings with them but when he looketh down upon Believers they are found in Christ They are reckoned as one
quodam modo conceditur non electis Ames When he doth take salvation in the offers of it and lay it before the conscience and doth press an acceptance of it upon the heart and doth strive with men and women in order to a closure with it upon Gospel-terms This is sometimes called a knocking at the door of the soul Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me By the door understand the heart of a sinner whereby entrance is made into the whole person and possession took as a man entreth into an house by the door the heart which is naturally shut against Christ nay barred and bolted against him by vain thoughts and vile affections and carnal reasonings by pride and prejudice and love of sin and the world Now to this door Christ cometh by the Spirit who acteth in his name and knocketh at the door that is he doth argue and reason the case with mens souls by his internal motions that they would accept of salvation as it is offered He doth expostulate with them why they will be so foolish as to spend their time and strength in seeking after that which is not bread and cannot satisfie And in order to move them to turn to God he doth set salvation before them and assureth them of the enjoyment of it if they will submit to the government of Jesus Christ If any man open the door I will come in unto him c. This I call an internal-conditional application because it is an inward work of the Spirit treating with the heart of a sinner And pray mind it Sirs as it is a common thing so it is a very dangerous thing to stand out against this application of eternal life When the holy Ghost hath been dealing with a mans heart convincing him of the necessity of closing with Christ and he doth break through such convictions God doth many times withdraw the very strivings of his spirit from such a sinner and never dealeth with him further in order to his conversion Prov. 1.23 Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will make known my words unto you It is the speech of Christ the eternal Wisdom of God inviting sinners to repentance q.d. I do not only call upon you by my Word but I will send the holy Ghost to treat with you He shall speak over to your consciences what the Minister preacheth in your ears And what is the issue of rejecting this work of the holy Ghost See v. 24. and onward Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproof I also well laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind That is when judgments which you were afraid of shall actually seize upon you and make you desolate when the wrath of God shall fall down upon you suddenly in a dreadful and terrible manner When distress and anguish cometh upon you Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me How is this to be understood seeing God is alwayes found of such as seek him in sincerity Why the meaning seemeth to be this God will withdraw his spirit and deal with their hearts no further and then they will grow hard and impenitent and though they cry in their afflictions yet it will only be the cry of hypocrities such as the Lord will have no manner of regard unto O my brethren let this dreadful Scripture and these awakening expressions sink deep into your ears that you may not dare to resist the holy Ghost or to send him grieved away from you 3. There is an effectual saving application of the benefits of redemption when they are so applyed to us as to be made ours so that we may say this promise is a part of my heritage and the other mercy is that which I have an interest in And this is effected upon our union with Christ When the holy Ghost doth not only shew us his excellency and propound unto us salvation through his righteousness but doth also mightily prevail upon us to come unto Christ and we get into him then we have a right to all that he hath to bestow upon the sons and daughters of men First we must have the Son and so a right to the inheritance by the Son 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption Mark it Then he is made so to us when we are in him It is one thing for Christ to be made wisdom and righteousness c. i.e. to be set apart as the store-house of all these spiritual good things and it is another thing for him to be made so to us By vertue of God's commission and the qualifications poured out upon the Lord Jesus and that active and passive obedience undertaken and performed by him he is made wisdom and righteousness and fanctification and redemption he is delegated to be God's high-steward or Treasurer for the giving out of these mercies he is become the source and fountain of all saving grace But when we are in him he is made wisdom to us and righteousness to us and sanctification to us and redemption to us so that we are actually made partakers of them These four things seem to comprehend the whole of the provisions made to conduct a sinner to glory 1. Wisdom for the revelation of the mind of God to us 2. Righteousness for our acceptation with the Lord. 3. Sanctification for inabling us to walk as a peculiar people and for carrying on the work of holiness to perfection 4. Redemption for our full deliverance from misery and compleating our happiness And all these are made over to us by vertue of our union with him our mystical oneness with Christ So much for opening the several branches of the Description and for the second general Head concerning the nature of this Union wherein it doth consist CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united cleared up in eight gradual Propositions Six of them insisted on 3. COme we now to the third principal Head propounded to be handled touching the manner of this Union how it is brought about The question is Qu. How is this Vnion wrought and accomplished After what manner is this conjunction made up whereby Christ and his people become one Ans I shall return answer to this question by laying down and enlarging upon eight distinct and gradual Propositions To which I must intreat your heedful and diligent attendance 1. Propos 1. The first Proposition is this That all the children of men
expressions it appeareth that these are two 〈◊〉 things Our being in Christ and Christ's being in us Burgess on Job 17. Serm. 126. the Lord Jesus cometh and taketh up his residence in them and they are inabled to go forth unto Christ and receive him as he is offered in the Gospel whereby they are in him and thus this Union is established These are matters distinct and accordingly the holy Ghost speaketh distinctly of them Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you See also Joh. 6.56 He that eateh my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him So that there are two great bonds or ligaments of this conjunction and of the union which followeth thereupon 1. The bond on Christ's part is the Spirit whereby the people of God are apprehended of him and he taketh up his abode in them For he dwelleth in them by his Spirit Rom. 8.9 10. But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin c. Observe that what is called the Spirit dwelling in us in one verse is stiled Christ in us in the other because Christ seizeth on us by his Spirit and abideth in us through the Spirit 2. The bond of this Union on the Believers part is Faith whereby they do apprehend the Lord Jesus Christ and take him home as it were unto themselves Being apprehended by him they take hold of him and so they are knit together Eph. 3.16 17. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith First Christ cometh by the holy Ghost and entereth into them and then they are inabled by faith to receive him unto themselves and to apply themselves unto him and so they are conjoyned and made one together From this mutual conjunction doth arise or spring a twofold Union or Oneness between Christ and Believers There is a 1. Natural 2. Legal Union the bond whereof is The Spirit dwelling in them Faith of the operation of the Spirit I will treat of each of them severally with as much clearness and succinctness as I can CHAP. VI. A natural and a legal Union with Christ Wherein they severally consist A moral Union proceeding from the former The last Proposition explained 1. THere is a natural Union or Oneness betwixt Believers and the Lord Jesus arising from the possession which he taketh of them and his residence in them whereupon they are partakers of the same heavenly and spiritual nature with him having Christ formed in them and dwelling with them Therefore I call it for distinctions sake a natural Union because herein they agree in the same divine and spiritual nature else for the manner of its effecting it is supernatural This you have mentioned abundantly in the Scriptures 2 Cor. 13.5 Christ is in you except ye be râ—â—probates that is If you are Christians in good earnest such as are sound in the faith unless you are persons unapproved * Si quid habent Christi sincerae pietatis Calv. Nisi forte reprobi estis i. e. improbi Marian. such as upon trial are found to deal falsely and unfaithfully in the Covenant of God except you are rotten at the heart gilded metal that will not abide the test and touchstone you must have Christ within you It is not enough that Christ be preached unto you but he must be revealed in you As the Apostle speaketh of his conversion and mission to preach the Gospel Gal. 1.16 When it pleased God who spearated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me Not only called me to be an Apostle and made known Christ unto me but also called me to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ revealing him in me The bond of this Union is the Spirit of Christ which is shed abroad in to the hearts of God's peculiar people and whereby the Lord Jesus taketh up his habitation in them For it is the Spirit that treateth with them in Christ's name and takes possession of them to his use and service For hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which be hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 This is the first sort of Union betwixt Christ and Believers which we call a natural union and it is wrought by the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in them Concerning which I will enlarge a little for the better clearing it to your understandings under five Heads 1. This dwelling of Christ in the souls of his people by his Spirit whereupon doth arise a natural union with him is the same thing for substance with the positive part of the grace of regeneration whereby the principles of holiness and new obedience are introduced into them and the image of God is restored upon their natures For it is hereby that the holy Ghost maketh his entrance into them and fixeth his settlement with him You know that regeneration or sanctification take it for the first saving change or distinguishing work upon the soul consisteth of two parts 1. There is a privative part or the mortification and subduing the principles and habits of sin 2. There is a positive part or the introduction of new principles of grace and holiness There is 1. A blotting out the image of the devil 2. Stamping upon a mans heart the divine nature again You read of them distinctly A taking away the heart of a stone and giving an heart of flesh Ezek. 11.19 There is a removing of the old man and a bringing in of the new man which is created after God Now Christ's being in his people by his Spirit is the same thing for substance with this positive part of regeneration By the mortification of sin Satan is outed of his possession of the soul and by the implantation of spiritual grace Christ enters and taketh possession of the soul by the renewing of the holy Ghost Thus you have it explained for one expression there seemeth to be exegetical of the other Ezek. 36.26 27. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you Mark it by the renovation of the heart God's Spirit is said to be within us And by the washing of regeneration the holy Ghost is said to be shed upon us abundantly Tit. 3.5 6. In the new birth Christ is formed in the soul by the working of the Spirit 2. Where Christ doth come by the operations of his Spirit to dwell in the hearts of his people he doth
sloth and carelessne's of men For though we are not active in the planting grace into our souls yet there is something expected at our hands in order to the a tainment thereof Although we cannot convert our selves yet we are to wait upon God that we may be converted by him and are to attend upon the means which he hath appointed and wherein he is wont to meet the souls that seek him Although we cannot cleanse and sanctifie our own spirits yet we are diligently to search the Scriptures and to press arguments upon our selves from the Scriptures and to give constant attendance upon God in his Ordinances which are the special instruments he is wont to make use of whereby to convey the spirit of sanctification * Sâ—bordinata non sunt opponenda sed componenda Auditio hominis irregeniti etsi conversionem non inchoat Est camen ordmarium requisitum quod conversionem ordinariam aâ—tecedit tanquam quaedam ad eam nondum existentem praeparatio Wendel Syst majus And this is none other then what God looketh for at our hands Ezek. 36. v. 26. compared with v. 37. A new heart also I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh But then v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel that I may do it for them Though we cannot mortifie and subdue our own corruptions yet we should reason the case with our selves and be much in expostulation with our own hearts why we should be so vile and foolish as to serve base lusts and corruptions and to turn our backs upon the Lord and though we cannot put the principles of holiness into our own souls yet we must follow after God by prayer and supplication that he may graciously send forth the holy Ghost to plant them in us And this seemeth to be one of the great ends of God in laying his commandments upon us though we have no strength or ability to the performance of them that we might turn the commandment into prayer and be earnest with him to work in us what he requireth to be within us Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Psal 51.6 7 10. Behold thou defirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me It is just for all the world in the case of a private man or woman as it is in the work of a Minister It is not within the power of the most excellent Preacher in the earth to convert one soul but it should be his care to preach such heart-searching truths and to press upon sinners such awakening considerations in season and out of season as may have a tendency towards conversion to instruct in meekness them that oppose themselves not as it he could give them repentance but if peradventure in the use of the means God may give them repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 26. So it is with sinners themselves they cannot bring spiritual life into their own souls yet they may wait upon God in the duties which he hath required and be earnest with the Lord to speak the word that their souls may live in his sight As we are to serve God with grace or in the exercise of grace when it is bestowed so we are to seek unto him for grace that it may be conferred And pray mind it Christians this will be enough to stop the mouths of impenitent sinners and render their plea of inability to convert themselves invalid Why thou sinful wretch who thus cavillest against the Lord hast thou duly and diligently set upon the discharge of that work which God calleth for in order to conversion That is a notable acknowledgment Dan. 9.13 We made not our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquity and understand thy truth If Daniel had onely confessed that they had not turned from iniquity might some captious sinner have been apt to say alas we had no power we were not able to turn of our selves yea but saith that holy man we have neglected the means which God hath appointed to turn us so put it home to thy conscience hast thou not resisted the Spirit whereby God hath many times striven with thee Hast thou not neglected to study the word or restrained prayer before the Lord wherein peradventure he might have been found by thee Thus I might instance in other particulars but I proceed 5. These principles of grace infused into the soul in the work of Regeneration or this image of God restored upon the soul by the Spirit in the day of conversion may be called Christ in us and the Lord Jesus may be said thereby to dwell with us and that upon a fourfold account especially Because 1. This grace is derived upon the soul out of the fulness of Christ 2. Hereby we are made conformable unto Christ 3. The Holy Ghost implanting it doth act in Christs name 4. Hereby we become his servants and possession is taken of us to his use 1. It may be called Christ in us because the habits of grace infused into the soul are derived upon us out of Christs fulness The whole stock of grace was put into the hands of the Mediator and from thence it is communicated unto Gods chosen people When the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Spirit without measure it was put into his hands as into a common Store-house or Magazine that from thence the Elect of God might be furnished It was put into him as into a fountain that out of that fountain our vessels might be filled It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. â— 19 And out of his fulness we all receive and that grace for grace John 1.16 And therefore it is called The Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.2 It is in him originally in us derivatively being imparted to us from him 2. Hereby Christ may be said to dwell in us because grace doth render a man conformable to Christ In the work of Regeneration our natures are fashioned according to his nature As there is an answerableness between a Copy and the Orignal from whence it is transcribed there is line for line and sentence for sentence word for word and letter for letter so take the humane nature of Jesus Christ as he was anointed by the Holy Ghost and the nature of a Person sanctified and there is a suitableness between them there is love for love and joy for joy and hatred for hatred they have the minde of Christ and the meekness of Christ and the long-suffering and compassion and gentleness of Christ and the like Therefore they are said to purifie themselves
the second Covenant That Text is very full and worthy to be wrot on our hearts in letters of gold and as with the pen of a diamond Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified 3. The ultimate or compleating act of this justifying faith whereby it becometh such is a fiducial resting or relying upon Christ for righteousness and acceptation with the Lord and for all the spiritual benefits that follow thereupon That which I aim at is this That justifying faith is not absolved and compleated by a bare assent of the understanding but it doth evidently include an act of the heart With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.10 If thou believest with all thine heart Acts 8.37 And the special act of the heart is a reliance upon Christ leaving a mans soul in his hands upon the articles of the Covenant of grace leaning upon his merits for acceptance with God receiving him as he is offered to sinners in the Gospel and trusting in him for acceptance and salvation Thus we have it explained Eph. 1.12 13. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise This is the faith both of Jew and Gentiles We first believed unto whom the word of salvation was first spoken and afterwards ye also believed in Christ What is this believing Why it is a trusting in Christ First the soul heareth the word of salvation promised in Christ and assenteth to the truth of that word and thereupon is perswaded to make his actual application unto Christ and trusteth in him for salvation Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him q. d. There is no way of avoiding destruction from Christ but by believing in him resting upon him they are the blessed of the Lord that put their trust in him * Sed multum inter est utruns â—â—isque credat ipsum esse Christum utrum credat in Christum Nam ipsum esse Christum daemones crediderunt Ille enim credit in Christum qui sperat in Christum diligit Christum Aug. Indeed there are many acts of the soul required unto this faith and comprized therein If a man believe in Christ he must have some competent knowledge of the nature of Christ and his mediatory office and satisfaction there must be a firm and lively assent to the truth of the Gospel a sense of the evil of sin and the inability of all other means besides the righteousness of Christ to recover the sinner out of his lost condition But now a fiducial reliance upon Christ for salvation is the last compleating act For when the sinner being driven from all other refuges whatsoever doth not only hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ but actually renounceth every thing for him and embraceth him as his Saviour casting his soul and all his spiritual concernments into Christ's hands and resting upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the Gospel this is a justifying and saving faith As a self-justiciary relieth upon his own righteousness so a true believer râ—steth upon Christ's righteousness This is set forth by coming unto Christ Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Come unto me that is believe in me place your hope and confidence in my righteousness The Lord Jesus in the Gospel is set forth as a propitiation he was sent to be the Redeemer of lost sinners Now when a person being affected with his lost estate sensible of the wrath of God and the insupportableness of it and labouring under the burden of sin doth come unto Christ as such and make use of him to that end namely to be his Redeemer and doth rest upon him to make atonement for his soul this is to believe with a justifying faith Joh. 6.35 He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst It is a looking unto Christ alone for redemption and deliverance upon his account As the brazen Serpent was an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Num. 21.8 9. so the Israelites looking up thereunto did signifie our faith in Jesus by whom our diseases are healed When a poor sinner is stung in his conscience with the fiery Serpent of the guilt of sin and being filled with dread in apprehension of the sad consequents of it doth look up unto Christ as held forth upon the pole of the Gospel to be a Saviour and doth rest upon him expecting redemption only through his blood here are the workings of a justifying faith Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up by dying on the Cross or by the publication and tender of his death and righteousness in the Gospel That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life This is the third particular which I intended to commend to you for opening the nature of faith which is the bond of our union with Jesus Christ 4. Wherever and in what soul soever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ and his righteousness in a saving way there is also as a necessary companion thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ and a ready submission to his government This I add in the last place to prevent if it be possible the abuse of this doctrine by carnal hearts and to stop the mouth of those clamours which are raised by some against it and the aspersions which they cast upon this evangelical truth as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness Will such be ready to say This doctrine will imbolden sinners in their presumption and vain confidence If to believe savingly on Christ be to rest on him for salvation who will not think that be doth believe What carnal wretch will not say that he doth rely upon Christ But mind it Sirs it is not a thinking or saying he doth rely upon Christ will give a man an interest in him but when he doth rest upon him indeed as he is propounded for a Saviour in the Gospel And such a faith will purifie the heart and cause the person believing to bring forth fruits of holiness in the conversation Else it will be an evidence that he doth but pretend thereunto and doth not rest upon Christ in truth For although it be not the work
imbolden the godly to be tampering with errors If a man will tread upon hot coals his feet may be burnt and scorched though withal his life may be preserved But this should make you the rather heedful to stick fast unto the truth that it may be evident you are such as they have no power over to lead aside into the error of the wicked It is the very particular consideration which the Apostle John presseth upon Believers why they should not hearken unto seducers when they teach for doctrines mens inventions and uncouth notions of their own Because they were sufficiently taught of Christ and his word was a plentiful directory unto them without the help of other additions and because they should abide in Christ therefore they were not to be followers of false teachers 1 Joh. 2.26 27. 5. Troubles and persecutions for the sake of Christ shall not be able to dissolve this union They may seem to be providences very likely to do it When Christians shall be dragged into prisons and abridged of their comforts and reduced into hardships and extremities when they shall have trial of cruel mockings and reproaches yea moreover of scourgings and torturings in the severest manner that the wicked heart of man can invent and when all these things might be avoided if they would but part with Christ Will not such sore persecutions from the world drive them back again for deliverance into the world out of which they were called Do but mark how confident the Apostle is of the contrary Rom. 8.35 36 37. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are acounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us How more than conquerours Why q. d. We are so far from being foiled that we are brought off with advantage our faith is thereby fourbished and our patience strengthened our other graces are quickned and our experiences increased When conquerours get a victory over their enemies it is seldom or never but with some loss to themselves but we are gainers by our troubles Our spiritual strength is augmented and our vigour heightened to a more intense degree and we come purified as gold out of the fire of tribulation So that we can glory in it For tribulation worketh patience and patience brings experience and experience begetteth hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts As you have it in that climax or gradation Rom. 5.3 4 5. In the winter of adversity the leaves drop off and the withered boughs are pared away but the living branches abide And the reason of it is this Because when Christ bringeth his people into distress and trouble for his Name he hath promised to stand by them and to afford them strength sufficient for their support under those distresseâ— Isa 42.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee When Christ reduceth them into such straits as they never had experience of he will then minister to them such strength and assistance as they never had before experience of As sure as he is a God of faithfulness he will do it according to that precious word 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it But may some poor disconsolate soul say I may quickly be called into temptations and troubles and I find no strength nor ability O what is like to become of me at such a season I am afraid I shall sink under the burden Why mind the promise he will do it with the temptation It is not said he will give ability before the trial but when you are called to use it you shall not fail of it You shall have it time enough against you have occasion to exercise it My brethren it is an excellent word of promise an establishing word if we had hearts to believe And indeed it is according to what the Saints of God have experimentally found How faint-hearted was Mr. Sanders in the dayes of Qu. Mary and very doubtful of himself till he was actually brought into sufferings How dead-spirited was Mr. Glover till he was reduced to the pinch and then he could cry out He is come He is come Nay how cowardly and full of fear was Moses himself till he was ingaged in his work as appeareth from the excuses he made to evade the imployment Exod. 4.1 10 13. 6. Death it self which is the great separating providence that parts between a man all his worldly accommodations that parts between friends and kinsfolks between brethren sisters the nearest and dearest relations shall not separate believers from Jesus Christ But still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made a separation between his body and soul yet it did not separate the humane nature from the divine So it is in the death of the Saints Though it rend the spirit from the flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very bodies of Believers are still united unto Jesus even when they are dead and shall be raised up again as I will shew you afterwards by vertue of that conjunction Therefore they are said to sleep in Jesus 1 Thess 4.14 and Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Rev. 14.13 It is not said only They that die for the Lord but in the Lord. A man may suffer death in some cases for the true Religion that never was sincere therein But if a person die in Jesus then he is blessed indeed Upon the upshot of all I may well conclude this point with that of the Apostle Paul in answer as it were to this question we are upon Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ q. d. Is a Believers union with Christ a dissolveable union or not Can it be broken asunder Or if you will rather understand it by way of assertion though delivered interrogatively For nothing is more ordinary than for affirmative interrogations to denote a vehement denial of the matter questioned As if he had said This union is altogether inseparable nothing can part betwixt a Believer and Christ So fast are they glewed and linked together that they shall never be divided or broken asunder again For saith he v. 38 39. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature
the Lord and actually ingageth him in all the parts of his service Joel 2.12 Jer. 4 1 2. There is a kind of conversion from sin which is not a returning to the most High when persons take up their rest in negative righteousness and abstaining from some pollutions but cannot endure to be in subjection to the whole government of Christ they hate the positive part of Religion which consisteth in a closs walking with God and studying in all things to approve themselves unto him A sound conversion bringeth a man unto the Lord that he may become his servant and have his fruit unto holiness Rom. 6.22 It is not every strong conviction of the excellency of Religion accompanied with some faint inclinations and resolutions to close with it that will amount to a saving conversion But in every respect it must be an universal work For it is a turning of the whole man from the whole service of sin unto the whole obedience unto the will of God during the whole course of our lives And this is a matter you must give diligence to get right apprehensions of For if you erre in the premises you will mistake in the conclusion deduced from those premises If you know not wherein the nature of conversion and regeneration consisteth you can never rightly pass sentence upon your selves whether you are converted and regenerate Direct 3. The third Rule of direction is this That the grace of regeneration and conversion which is the fundamental evidence of union with Christ is not alwayes discerned in the first plantation of it into the soul or if it be discerned yet it may afterwards be called into question concerning its truth and savingness and therefore for the finding out whether you have that grace you must enquire into the fruits and effects which are produced thereby You must examine your works to prove that you are made Gods workmanship and search into your conversations that it may appear you are partakers of a sound conversion 'T is the exercise of repentance in the life that must manifest the grace of repentance poured forth into the heart and your walking in the wayes of new obedience that must evidence your being made new creatures And the reason of it is Because it is not alwayes perceived in the first infusion of grace into the soul or at least the sinner may be in doubt whether it be a saving work which he finds wrought within him Although he find and feel a present change in his spirit yet he may question whether it be such a change as will speake him a true Convert So that the way to put it out of question is to examine our obedience and practical holiness which is the natural product of the principle of regeneration Hence it is that we are so often pressed to try our works and to observe what fruit we bring forth in order to the knowledge of our spiritual estate 1 Joh. 3.7 Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous And v. 8. He that committeth sin is of the devil Again v. 10. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother You have many carnal persons apt to boast of the integrity of their hearts It is true will they acknowledge they live in a course of sin and neglect of duty their lives are pestered with divers sorts of abominations yea but will they plead our hearts are good and we mean well and we hope we may have grace within as well as they who are more forward in Religion Why mark it saith the Apostle this is a plain cheat you put upon your selves If false teachers sooth you up in this conceit do not hearken to them they will but delude you to your destruction For if your hearts be good your lives will be answerable If the grace of God be within you it will guide your feet in the wayes of righteousness you must prove your conversion by the holiness of your conversation So that this Rule of advice will be useful on both hands 1. To overturn the presumption of the wicked when they boast of the sincerity of their hearts 2. For relief to the godly when they question the truth of their conversion It is many times the ground of the hard thoughts they entertain concerning their spiritual estate because they never felt those throws and pangs of the new birth which some have felt nor can they tell the time when they were effectually called and converted Why remember Sirs Although this change is visible unto some in the first workings of it yet grace is planted in others imperceptibly And therefore the proof of it depends upon the fruit you bring forth Mat. 3.8 9. Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our father q.d. You must prove the truth of your profession of being the children of God by walking as becometh his children How will you make it appear that you have the grace of repentance unless your conversations be answerable thereunto As the root of a tree is hid in the earth and is not seen with the eye but if you would know what sort the tree is of you must look upon the fruit so it is in spiritual things The habits of grace themselves the root of the matter are the hidden man of the heart they lie deep within and sometimes their entrance is not discerned and therefore you must examine by your works Gal. 6.4 Let every man prove his own work And no wonder that we are required to judge ourselves by this Rule for according to our works Christ will judge us at the last day When he cometh to gather all people before him and to divide them into companies according to their spiritual condition such as are members of his body into one company and such as are strangers to him into another and to pass an irrepealable sentence upon them he will proceed upon evidence drawn from their works Rom. 2.6 7 8 9. Who will render to every man according to his works To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Rev. 20.13 And they were judged every man according to his works This is the third Rule of Direction That to prove your union with Christ by your conversion you must diligently observe and enquire into the holiness of your conversation what respect you have to the commandments of God For 1 Joh. 3.24 He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him And 1 Joh. 2.5 Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God